WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Delegates from across the nation are converging here to participate in the second annual ecumenical gathering, concerning urgent global issues.

The focus will be on Africa and the Middle East, to include four regional tracks: Africa, Asia (Korea), Latin America, and the Middle East (Israel and Palestine, Iraq), and two thematic tracks: Jubilee and economic justice, (trade and debt), and nuclear disarmament.

Among the prominent speakers will be Rev. Samuel Kobia,
general secretary of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches and former head of the National Council of Churches of Kenya; Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development,University of Maryland, College Park, Md.; Peter M. Beck,director of research, Korean Economic Institute, Washington; Ellen Laipson, president, Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington; and Lee Sigal, director, Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project, Social Science Research Council, New York.

There will also be common times for fellowship and networking, a keynote address and banquet dinner, and a special ecumenical service of worship for participants and the public.

The US national exhibition of the Interfaith AIDS Poster Campaign will take place during the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, DC, March 5-8, 2004.

The gathering is sponsored or supported by numerous churches, church agencies, and church-related organizations, including:

• Africa Faith and Justice Network
• American Friends Service Committee
• Bread for the World
• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Church World Service
• Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy
• Churches for Middle East Peace
• Episcopal Church USA
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Interfaith Committee for Nuclear Disarmament
• Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment
• Jubilee USA Network
• Latin America Working Group
• Lutheran World Relief
• Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
• Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Justice and Peace/Integrity of Creation Office
• National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
• Peaceful Ends through Peaceful Means
• Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Reformed Church in America
• Stand With Africa
• United Church of Christ
• United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
• Washington Office on Africa.